Checkmate!
by Kage-no-Mayori
Summary: The game of chess taught Ren to search for every option, look for any openings, and predict your opponent's moves in order to guard against them. Ever since a freak accident caused her to be transported into the Naruto world during the buildup to the Fourth Great Shinobi War, she will need these lessons and maybe the help from a certain strategist ninja to survive. ShikamaruXOC
1. Chapter 1: Enter Ren!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world. Enjoy.

Chapter 1: Enter Ren!

My feet dragged with every step, shuffling along the gritty pavement of the parking lot as I walked to my car after practice. Every plant of each foot led to a sharp and achy pain in my shins and feet, and a dead feeling that resonated throughout my legs. My hamstrings were sore, my back was sore, my feet felt like every bone was fractured, and my knees felt like they had been though 80 years of life even though I was only 17. Why did track have to suck so much and why was I so devoted to it? I never really understood why I kept going out for it every year, running sucked.

After what seemed like an eon of walking, I finally reached my car, a usual shiny black Ford Escape that was now covered in dust from the corn field next to our school. Exhausted as I was, I still had the energy to wave goodbye to my teammates.

"Nice job today Kari! See ya later Emi!" I called as I climbed into my car. Thank goodness I could just go home and relax. My homework was done and all I had to do was lay in my warm, cozy bed and watch my guilty pleasure, Naruto. I got hooked on the anime in middle school and it had stuck with me ever since. So often I daydreamed of being a part of the shinobi world. Everyone had such strong friendships in the Leaf Village and the Akatsuki were such bad-asses. Maybe if I could be like them all this training would seem more worth-while.

Driving through town to get home after practice always seemed to take just as long as it took to get to my car, forever, even though the drive was actually relatively quick. I lived in a small town with just a few thousand people. Many might not even call it a town because of how small it was, but I called it home.

I slowed to a gradual stop as I pulled off the side of the road in front of the quaint, yellow house that my family resided in. It took forever to get my aching body and my bulging schoolbag and sports bag into the house. Each bag felt like it was full of rocks. My mother greeted me in the kitchen as she laid a chicken breast into a glass pan.

"Hi Ren, how was school today?" she asked cheerfully. I set my stuff down with a loud thud that shook the floor as I let out a long groan.

"School was easy, but practice was sooooo awful today. I'll never understand the benefit of running 16 repeat 200s." I shook my head.

"Well I'm sure coach knows what he's doing. In the meantime you'll have plenty of food for dinner tonight to recover. I'm making your favorite, seasoned chicken with rice and broccoli," she mentioned as she set the pan onto the top rack of the oven. The small lines next to her mouth creased as she smiled. Even with the thin lines of age on her face and the silver hairs peeking through her dark brown hair, my mom was still beautiful. I continuously hope that I age that well.

"That makes everything better already. Thanks mom, I needed that," I answered gratefully. I blinked long and slow and smiled a heavy smile, "I'm going to go wash up before dinner."

"Ok sweetie, dinner will be ready in 30 minutes," she called. I nodded in acknowledgement and trudged through the living room and down the hallway toward my room. Clothes were quickly selected from my dresser based on comfort and I headed to the welcome of the steamy, hot water of the shower. It was sweet relief to my aching body. For a while I just stood there, not wanting to get on with shampooing and covering my body with suds because it meant that I was closer to leaving the warmth of the falling water. I glanced at my running watch for a moment. 15 minutes! I had already been in here for 15 minutes! My inner environmentalist was screaming at me for my wastefulness. This and the approaching dinner time forced me to start washing. In no time I was out of the shower and combing through my wavy, sandy-colored hair before it became dried and became unmanageable. While I was staring at my tanned reflection and into my brown eyes in the steamy mirror across from the shower, I heard a knock on the door and a deep voice.

"Hi Ren, are you ready to continue our game of chess after dinner?" asked the warm, comforting voice of my dad. I had completely forgotten that we had started a new game a few nights ago. Ever since I could remember, my dad and I have played a long series of chess games. He taught me every rule and every role that was a part of the game. It was our thing, and even though I was exhausted, I replied, "Sure thing, dad."

I finished dressing in the shapeless comfort-ware that I had picked out and headed out to dinner.

* * *

The room was saturated with silence and concentration as I sat opposite my dad and stared at our beaten-up chess board. It had been an hour of both of us sitting in our dimly lit living room and each of us had only taken a single turn. Chess was a game of wit and strategy, and my dad taught me to take that to heart. Search for every option, look for any openings, and predict your opponent's moves in order to guard against them. He claimed enthusiastically on multiple occasions that this was a useful life skill and to never forget it. I had heard it a million times, so much so that I recalled it whenever we played.

His hand reached for his queen piece in what seemed like slow motion, picked it up, and set it back down only a few squares away from my king. I let out a gasp. My exhaustion must have phased me during the game because in my own distracted thoughts, I had completely zoned out of every move that had transpired since we moved our first pieces. In that moment I noticed his well-positioned knight and rook sitting in in the formation of an excellent trap.

"Checkmate."

And with that, I let out a long groan and flopped backward onto our tan carpeted floor in the most dramatic way I could muster. How could I have missed that trap? I rarely miss things like that anymore! I even won the past few games. Did he have this up his sleeve the whole time? I can't believe I zoned out like that!

"Ha ha Ren, I guess you could say I studied up a little bit since you started a winning streak," my dad chuckled and scratched his head nonchalantly.

"Yeah yeah, I see you old man. I'll get you next time," I retorted, rolling my eyes in response.

"You might have to do a little studying," he winked, "but in the meantime, I'd say it's time for you to get to bed, sweetie. You look exhausted."

Yes, I was still on the floor, and yes, my dad was making fun of me.

"Very funny, dad. I think my tiredness got in the way of the game, so you got out of losing this time," I grinned. I sat up and picked up my phone that had been sitting next to me during the game "Good night, dad. You may have won this time, but I demand a rematch this weekend."

"Good night, Ren. I look forward to another win this weekend."

And with that, I walked slowly to my cozy little bedroom at the end of the hall. I stripped down to my granny-styled, comfy underwear and crawled into my double sized bed with way too many covers on it. There was just something about sleeping with little clothes on and lots of blankets that always seemed comforting to me. Exhaustion hit me in a wave as I switched off the light and stumbled toward my bed. After my head hit the pillow, I dosed off almost instantaneously and somehow slipped into a fitful dream of being trapped on a chessboard with no way out.


	2. Chapter 2: Aftershock

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world. Enjoy.

Chapter 2: Aftershock

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

I jolted awake with my blankets clinging to my body as my alarm clock on my phone continued its persistent screeching. It was 6:45. I quickly shut off the alarm and rubbed my tired eyes. The remnants of my dream still were fresh in my mind and I couldn't shake the images from the dream of being cornered by approaching chess pieces. The pieces were larger than life, the size of buildings, and the board stretched for miles with an empty void surrounding it. Maybe it was a good thing that my dad and I weren't going to be playing again until the weekend. Chess was starting to get to me it seems.

From the look of the little light coming through the window to the left of my bed, it was going to be a rainy day. I liked rain and I loved storms, but I hated getting out of bed on days like this. It was a waste of perfect sleeping weather. After getting up and going to the bathroom in my quiet house, I came back to my room to pick out my clothes for school. I pulled an indigo blue knit workout shirt from a clothes hanger. It was long-sleeved, cozy, and I wouldn't have to bring an extra shirt for practice. I paired it with simple, black running tights. Glancing at my running watch, I realized it was already 7:10. School started in 20 minutes. How did I always waste so much time in the morning! I wasn't even productive! I rushed to the kitchen, popped a piece of bread into our old, outdated toaster, brushed my teeth as it was toasting, threw my hair in a ponytail, grabbed the toast, and ran through the rain to my car. My engine revved as I turned the key, soggy toast hanging from my mouth. On the drive to school, I turned on the radio to drown out the constant squeak of my windshield wipers. Instead of music, there came a weather alert.

"The National Weather Service is issuing a SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING for the following counties: Carroll County, Washington County, James County, and Jackson County. Please take shelter and be safe when traveling. The storm is currently hitting the area around Hudson Valley. Be prepared for high winds, lightning, and flash flooding."

Hudson Valley was my town. Buckets of rain began to slam against my windshield, overpowering the current speed setting of the wiper blades. As I turned into the school drive I noticed the trees and greenery outside of the school swaying dramatically back and forth and the corn in the nearby field whipping to and fro, mimicking waves in a troubled ocean. The "woosh" of the wind could be heard outside of my car windows and felt in the push along the side of my car. The deep crackle of thunder rang across the sky. I pulled into the closest parking spot to the school that I could find, which was near the back of the lot. I cursed the me from this morning. How could "Past Ren" let "Current Ren" be so late and unfortunate! I would have to dash to the school entrance if I even wanted a shred of clothing to be dry by the time I got there. I nodded to myself in reassurance that everything would be fine after I found my courage. And then, I opened my door. Rain splattered onto my face and I squinted in a futile attempt to keep the rain out of my eyes. I grabbed my backpack and slammed the door. Then, I bolted. Water ran down my face and within just a few steps, my shoes began to slosh with flooded water. This was the worst time for my speed from track to fail me. Just as I was almost halfway to the school, a flash of bright light nearly blinded me and a burning sensation covered my whole body. Time slowed. I wasn't fast enough. The world went dark and, in the air, hung the smell of burnt hair and skin. I didn't make it.

* * *

Birds chirped noisily from somewhere up above. The bumpy ground below was hard and covered in dirt and rocks. This didn't feel like the school parking lot. In that moment I realized the ground wasn't wet and rain wasn't falling from the sky. I peeped one eye open and a flood of light entered my consciousness, sending my brain reeling as a stab of pain pierced my head. Everything hurt. My body felt like it had fallen from a tall building and my skin felt like I had been seared on the grill. What the hell happened to me and where the hell was I? Adrenalin coursed through my body and forced me to stand up. I winced at the sharp pain brought about by the sudden movement and blinked my eyes at my new surroundings. Tall, leafy trees towered above me and there were no buildings or people in sight. Somewhere in the depths of my mind, I registered that I was in some sort of forest. I looked down at my body. It was a good thing no one was here to see me. My skin was blistered up and down my arms and legs and only parts of my outer clothing was still remaining. The smell of burnt hair filled my nostrils. I don't even want to know what my face and hair look like now. What happened to me?

I closed my eyes and searched my memories of the past thirty seconds. Tracing back, I encountered this new scenery, darkness, and then a bright flash of light accompanied by searing pain and the sounds of a roaring thunderstorm. Lightning. It was lightning that caused all of this pain, but that didn't explain why I wasn't at school. Oh my gosh, I'm not at school! I'm not even in my town! I could feel the anxiety and panic rising in my chest. It started from this sinking feeling in my stomach and worked its way up to my heart, causing it to pound as though it would leap from my chest. The anxiety filled my chest cavity, my breathing felt constricted, and panic took over. As it traveled further upward, my throat tightened. I couldn't get enough air. My mind screamed in terror.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I couldn't help it. It felt like all I could do was scream. "Someone help me! PLEASE! SOMEONE!"

I took a step to run and my body crumpled. The pain that I had felt after practice yesterday was pure joy compared to the pain I felt right now. Involuntary screams broke past my lips once more. Tears splashed onto the dirt below me from my eyes. Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? I needed to find help! Get a hold of yourself, Ren!

I took a deep breath and stood up as I breathed out slowly, groaning from intense pain that resonated throughout my body. I need to suck this up and go find help, at least that's what I tried telling myself. Pushing passed the tumultuous anxiety, I gingerly put a foot down in front of me, wincing as I transferred my weight onto that foot so I could take another step. All of my focus was devoted to pushing through the pain I felt in every step. Hopefully the random direction I headed off in resulted in help.

After what seemed like an eternity of stumbling along through the deep forest looking for help, I saw a shiny object on the ground up ahead. Maybe that meant there were people nearby! I trudged as quickly my inflamed body would manage toward the object, but as soon as I saw what it was, I stopped dead in my tracks. Panic and anxiety again roe up through my body. My jaw dropped in disbelief. No, it couldn't be. I reached down and my fingers curled around the rough, thread-covered surface of the kunai knife. The only instance I had seen one of these used was when watching Naruto. What does this mean then? Regardless, maybe this meant that there were people nearby. I grasped the knife and went to continue on, but before I could take more than three steps, I was frozen. I couldn't move my body, almost welcome relief from the pain if not for the newfound terror I began to feel.

"Hm, you fell for it, thank god I that was not much work," came a monotone voice of a man from somewhere nearby. I moved my eyes to look around frantically in my viewing area, but found nothing but trees and the green underbrush of the forest..

"What? Who's there? Show yourself!" I yelled. Though I had the courage to shout this, I could not control the shake of fear in my voice. This could be bad. If I was where I thought I was, this could be really, reeeaaally bad. A figure started to emerge from the shadows. Spiky black hair poked up into a shaft of sunlight shining through the trees. Black pants, a green jacket, and a smirk of victory plastered to face of my captor. Shikamaru Nara.

"Glad I caught you. You won't be troubling this part of the woods anytime soon. I'm taking you back to the Leaf Village for interrogation," he stated, yawning. He may think I'm a thief, but this was a perfect chance to get help. Shikamaru may have been one of my favorite characters from the Naruto franchise, but for now, he was my pathway to civilization.

"Fine," I sighed in relief," but I am no thief."

"We'll see about that," he replied. And with that, his shadow possession justu traveled up from beneath me and wrapped around my hands, and he led me on the long, painful journey to the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

* * *

Well guys, we finally entered the Naruto world. Hopefully things will begin to pick up now that Ren is in this new and unfamiliar setting. Again, feel free to give any feedback! I greatly appreciate it, and thanks to all those who have already followed and favorite this story! Until next time!

-Mayori chan


	3. Chapter 3: Questions

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world. Enjoy._

 **Chapter 3: Questions**

"Kneel before the Hokage, Lady Tsunade," commanded one of the ninjas that had joined Shikamaru when he had brought me into the village. I nodded and lowered myself to the ground, wincing as my blistered skin touched the wooden floor. If I thought walking was painful, the pressure of putting all of my weight on my knees, which were covered with burns, was almost unbearable. I flicked my gaze up toward the Hokage. She has to notice the pain I am in.

"Thank you, Shikamaru, for bringing the thief in, we will need to question her for information immediately given the current turmoil that our village is dealing with," Tsunade stated. "However, I will have Shizune gather some of the medical nin to heal some of those burns before they become infected. We don't want her getting ill on us"

"Yes ma'am," Shikamaru nodded. That was the first I had heard him speak since he had captured me. We had not talked the whole way here. Granted, I was in immeasurable pain and keeping up with the brisk pace that Shikamaru had set was hard enough as is, let alone trying to have a conversation while doing it. I glanced over at him. This was my first chance to really study one of the characters I enjoyed so much up close and personal. He was taller than I expected. He looked around my age, which meant I had been dropped into the part of the timeline leading up to the Fourth Great Shinobi War. No wonder the village was taking all the precautions to interrogate even a lowly thief. Shikamaru's vest fit loosely in a comfortable, yet functional way, but his undershirt fit snugly and defined muscles that I must have missed while watching the anime. I felt heat rise to my face as these thoughts passed through my mind.

"Oh, and Shikamaru, send her with one of the chunin, I need you to analyze some of the information we have collected from other criminals that we have captured," Tsunade told him, "Every criminal we capture, the safer our land is and the more information we can obtain. I'm glad you found her when you did."

"Yes Lady Hokage, I will send her to Ino's dad after these guys help her get cleaned up. Let me know if anything arises, hopefully getting information won't be too much of a hassle," Shikamaru droned on in his steady voice. Tsunade nodded in response and I was ushered out of the room but two chunin.

After kneeling so long, the burns around my knees had started to crack open and secrete fluid. Every time I flexed the skin around my knees while walking, the cracks in the blistered skin would open up. By the time we were out of the Hokage's building, the two ninja ended up having to carry me to the makeshift hospital in the village. Looking around the village, I noticed that it was though we stood in a large crater. So this was after Pein attacked Konoha, but after Tsunade had awoken from her coma.

I was led to a room on the second floor where I was laid onto a hospital bed. From the trauma I had been through today, the bed felt softer than a cloud. Now that I knew I was being healed, all of the exhaustion that I had pushed aside over the past few hours crashed over me. Then, darkness.

* * *

"Wake up!" A voice probed into my dark subconscious. Who was it?

"Mom?" I questioned. Maybe I'm late to school or something or my alarm didn't go off. As I blinked my eyes open, the realization hit. I am in a hospital bed in the shinobi world. So this isn't a dream.

"Oh good, she's awake." That monotonous voice. I turned toward the doorway to see Shikamaru and one of the ninja that had brought me here to the hospital. Another person that I had not seen before was standing in the corner opposite of the door. She must be the medical ninja.

"Based on how healed she is now, she should be able to start the interrogation process," the medical woman stated.

"Thanks, we will take her immediately. She's been out for two long, and we are far behind in getting information from her," Shikamaru responded, "This is why lady Tsunade sent me after we heard word that this girl had been unconscious for a day."

I had been out for a while day? How could that be? All of the ninja continued to inform each other on events and procedures that were going on and what was planned for me. Annoyance started to fill my mind. They don't even know who I am. I'm not even the thief they think I am. Plus, no one has even spoken directly to me about how I am feeling. What is with these people?

I cleared my throat to draw their attention, "What's going to happen to me? I need to know. All of this concerns me, so I need to be informed." I announced in the most confident voice I could muster.

"Some information is classified, but basically we are going to take you down to the interrogation room now. Depending on the information we get and how you comply with our efforts will determine what happens next," Shikamaru answered.

"Fine," I sighed. Though I wasn't too eager on getting my mind probed, I figured maybe at least this way they will figure out I'm not the thief and let me go.

I stood up and they beckoned me to follow them. I noticed as I walked, my skin had mostly healed. The pain in my limbs was significantly less than before. If only my high school athletic trainer could have use medical treatment like that for our injuries. I would have been in much better shape.

The two shinobi led me inside another building and took me to the entrance of the interrogation unit. Shikamaru knocked on the door and opened it to reveal Ibiki and Inoichi both waiting for me.

"Here is the thief girl that was apprehended yesterday."

"I told you, I'm not a thief," I muttered, glaring at Shikamaru. This guy was starting to get on my nerves. How could I have been so fond of him back in my world?

"Excellent, Shikamaru," Inoichi answered, "We will send word to Lady Tsunade once we uncover the secrets she may be carrying."

Shikamaru and his companion nodded and closed the door behind them as they left. I was left in a dimly lit room with both of Konoha's top ninja for squeezing information out of enemies. They can't go too hard on me can they? I mean, I'm not even guilty, I'm not even who there are looking for!

"Ok girl, take a seat and tell us what your name is," Ibiki growled, in his rough voice. He gestured to a chair in the middle of the room. I walked over and took a seat.

"My name is Ren, sir," I stated. Could they see how terrified I was?

"Well Ren, where are you from?" Ibiki asked.

"Um… well, I don't really know." What was I supposed to tell them? It's not as though they would believe me if I said I was from a different world, let alone one that saw all shinobi as a characters in a manga and anime series.

"Let me try this again," the scarred ninja started, "where are you from?"

Shit, what am I supposed to say? I guess I can try and tell the truth. What's the worst they can do?

"I'm from a different world," I sighed. Ibiki glanced sideways and made eye contact with Inoichi.

"I find that hard to believe," Ibiki stated in response. Both ninja made eye contact again and Inoichi nodded. So this was it, my mind is definitely being probed.

"I'm sorry young lady, but if you can't be truthful right off the bat, I'm afraid we are going to have to resort to a different tactic of gathering information," Inoichi said to me. I swallowed hard and could feel sweat start to break out beneath my arms. Before I knew it, my mind was invaded. In a split second, he knew everything. I knew how well his mind reading technique worked.

Inoichi's eyes grew wide, "No, it can't be."

Ibiki stared at him, "Inoichi, what is it?"

Inoichi turned to him and whispered into his ear. Ibiki's eyes grew wide.

"We must send word to Lady Hokage," Ibiki decide. Inoichi nodded in response and disappeared from the room.

"Well well well, Ren-san, I guess it's your lucky day," Ibiki smirked. And with that, he tied my hands and feet to my chair, and left the room while saying, "Or then again, maybe not."

* * *

 _Ok guys, so third chapter is up now. Hope you guys are enjoying. I promise there is more good stuff to come and I hope I'm not boring all of you with these introductory chapters. Please feel free to give feedback through reviews or through private messages. I would love to hear any comments about anything. If you love my story, feel free to recommend! Thank you!_

 _-Mayori-chan_


	4. Chapter 4: Fate

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world._

 **Chapter 4: Fate**

I awoke to an aching feeling in my wrists and ankles. I groggily twisted my arms back and forth. Yep, the ropes were still there, and stupid Ibiki tied the too damn tight! I blinked my eyes open to the dimly lit interrogation room. There was no one in sight. How long had I been here? My stomach rumbled loudly, almost as though crying out for food. That's right, I hadn't eaten since that piece of toast before school. How long had it been since then? I jumped at the sudden open of the door. Tsunade walked in and strode over to me. Two other ninja stood by the door. BY their silhouettes, I guessed they had to be Ibiki and Inoichi. A stern look covered the face of the Hokage.

"We both know why I'm here," she began, "my interrogators found some surprising information while combing through your memories."

"Yes ma'am," I nodded. Truth be told, Tsunade scared me a little, especially know with the look she wore on her face.

"We understand that you are not from this world, yet you have an unimaginable amount of information on us and the events that have happened to our village and the events that will happen," she stated, "Now, if the elders had their way, we would have executed you by now. A person with your kind of information would be a death sentence to the Leaf Village if you were to fall into the wrong hands."

I hung my head. By information she was telling me, my fate in this world did not look good. Even if I was far from home with no known chance of a way back, I wanted to live. I couldn't just give up and let my life be taken.

"Tsunade-sama, I swear I'm worth keeping around!" I stammered. My eyes started to tear up, "I was an athlete back in my world, I can train! I can help out the leaf village, I swear!"

Tsunade paused for a moment, and then spoke, "Don't worry, killing you is not my way of doing things, but we do need to take precautions where you are concerned. We will train you, so that you can protect yourself if needed, but no one must know who you are. We will give you an alias, and you must live by it."

Hope spread though my like wildfire and settled into my heart. I was going to live!

"Thank you Tsunade-sama, I swear I will do whatever I can to make sure you don't regret this!" I cried. Tears of relief trickled down my face. Tsunade gave a small smile.

"I hope not," she said. She nodded to the two ninja that were standing in the doorway. They took out kunai and began cutting away at the ropes. My wrists were red where the ropes had been, but I was glad to be free.

"Now, Ren, you need to come with me to discuss other details, such as living arrangements and your alias."

"Of course, Lady Hokage," I nodded. We walked out of the building and into the sunlight. My stomach gave a hollowed rumble and Tsunade looked down at my abdominal area. She then turned back to Ibiki and Inoichi.

"You guys didn't feed her?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips. Her face flushed red and a small vein popped out from her forehead. I needed to stay on this woman's good side. Seeing her anger in the anime was one thing, being in the vicinity of it was a whole different scenario. I think I could actually feel the anger radiating off of her. If this was how mad she could get over something as small as my not eating, I would hate to see in person what she is like in battle.

"S-sorry, Lady Hokage!" Inoichi stammered. Ibiki looked unfazed.

"There were other things to attend to, Hokage-sama," Ibiki stated. Tsunade squinted at them and then stood up straight. Her hands still rested on her hips, but her face had returned to its normal color.

"Well, then the two of you ought to find something for her while I debrief her on her new life," Tsunade commanded. Both men nodded and headed off in the opposite direction.

"Thank you, Lady Hokage," I said politely. Better to be nice than risk offending her.

"Oh cut the crap. You don't have to call me Lady Hokage or Tsunade-sama all the time," she replied with a wave of her hand, "You and I will be seeing each other much too often now for such formalities."

I nodded, 'Yes, Lady Hokage- I mean Tsunade!"

She smiled in approval. As we reached the building where her office was, I spied Shikamaru leaning on the wall by the entrance.

"You called, Lady Tsunade?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Yes Shikamaru, I have to inform you on the recent events from the interrogation room. Come with us." Tsunade beckoned him to come along. Ha, at least now he would have to believe I wasn't the thief! Shikamaru nodded and glanced at my wrists to check if I was walking freely or if I was still bound. We entered into the Hokage's office and two chairs were procured for Shikamaru and me.

Shikamaru groaned as he saw this, "Ugh, I got a feeling this is going to be a long talk."

"Lots of information require long talks such as this, Shikamaru," Tsunade stated. We took our seats, and then it began.

"It seems Ren-san is from another world. She is not the thief we thought she was."

"Another world? What does that mean?" Shikamaru's eyes grew wide as they turned toward me. "Wait, so that means the thief that was terrorizing the area outside of the Lead Village is still out there."

"Yes Shikamaru, but I will have one of the chunin go look for them. You, on the other hand, are getting a different assignment," said the Hokage. "Ren is from a different world where are lives are mere stories. That being said, she knows everything that will happen over the course of the next decade in the Leaf Village."

Shikamaru froze in his seat.

"I know this comes as a shock," I began, "but I want to help the Leaf Village as much as I can." It must be hard, learning that your whole life is just the creation of an author in another realm.

Tsunade nodded at my remark, "Yes, which is why we must keep her safe. No one must know where she comes from and what she knows. Shikamaru, you are one of my most trusted shinobi, which is why I am assigning you the task of keeping her safe."

"But Lady Hokage, there are others who are stronger that could protect her!" Shikamaru stammered. I don't blame him for not wanting the assignment. I was a harbinger of news concerning everyone's fate and a liability.

"Shikamaru!" yelled Tsunade, "You will take this assignment. You are one of our best strategists. If something were to happen, I would rather have brains protect Ren than strength. Not to mention, we are extremely low of shinobi right now."

"Ugh, this is more effort than I wanted to give today," he sighed, reverting back to his lazy, old self. Tsunade smirked, as she knew she had one the argument. Observing this transaction was humorous to me. I kept down a small giggle. These interactions and relationships were what made me a fan of _Naruto_ back in my world. No matter what the conflicts were, there was still that love and dedication that each Leaf ninja had for their village and friends. I loved it. With that, my earlier annoyance toward Shikamaru slowly started to ebb away.

"Now, Shikamaru, I will be informing your clan that you will be having a refugee stay with you. They must not know where she really came from or what she knows. We will say she is from a minuscule village on the edge of our borders that was destroyed by the Akatsuki," Tsunade decided.

Shikamaru nodded in acceptance. "But Tsunade-sama, what will I do with her every day?"

"Train me!" I blurted out before Tsunade could answer. Both turned to me in surprise. Tsunade studied my face, evaluating my resolve or potential or something. Her face transformed into a smile and she chuckled, "Well Shikamaru, there's your answer. I think it would be a wonderful idea, and she has hints of the Will of Fire within her."

Shikamaru let out a sigh, "Fine."

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't keep my smile in or my excitement. I jumped up off of my chair. "You won't regret this Tsunade! I will do my best!"

Tsunade shook her head in amusement, "Calm down, Ren, I still have one more thing to discuss with you."

I stopped my celebration and took my seat. I could feel my face grow hot in embarrassment, "Yes, Lady Tsunade?"

"Ren, you will meet with me twice a week to discuss the upcoming events in regards to the approaching war. Shikamaru will bring you're here every Monday and Thursday," she stated. Shikamaru let out another sigh, but nodded in acceptance of the task.

"Ok, you both are free to go,"Tsunade stated. She waved her hand at us in a gesture to leave, "Now go, I have a lot of paper work to do." And with that, we left.

"What's the plan for today, Shikamaru?" I asked enthusiastically. Though I was separated from my home, I could not believe my luck today.

"Well first off, you need clothes," he replied dryly. I looked down at my clothes. I had forgotten how damaged and burnt they were. I laughed shyly, realizing how much skin was showing.

"Ha ha, that's probably a good idea Shiakmaru-san."

We continued down the dirt path. As we walked, Inoichi approached us with a paper bag in hand. I could smell the savory waft of food coming from the bag. My stomach grumbled again.

"Sorry this is late, Ren, we didn't know what you would like," Inoichi explained, handing me the bag. I nodded my head in thanks, "Thank you, Inoichi-san! It smells wonderful!"

I peeked inside the bag. There was a small, disposable soup container of ramen, a container of chicken kabobs, wrapped rice balls, and a couple things I couldn't identify.

"Hope you enjoy, Ren," Inoichi stated before disappearing.

Shikamaru started walking again, expecting me to follow. I jogged to catch up and smiled contently as I continued alongside him.

"Do you want to share this with me, Shikamaru-san?" I asked sweetly. My good mood put me in an especially good disposition to share. Not to mention, it would be nice to start forming friendships.

"No, thank you though," Shikamaru grumbled. He was probably annoyed at his situation. I sighed in defeat. I guess I would have to wait a little before trying to get him to warm up to me.

We walked in the open door of a newly constructed building. It was a small shop, with folded clothes displayed on shelves on the wall. Shoes were arranged neatly on counters that were scattered across the middle of the store. I walked slowly over to what looked like the women's clothing. Reaching out, I touched the fabrics gently with my fingertips. Each fabric was different, but they all offered the same, breathable characteristic that a kunoichi would want. I spotted a sky blue shirt with black knit fabric sown in strips on the side for extra cooling properties. It was cropped slightly to expose part of the abdomen of whoever would wear it. Though it was a little showier than what I would usually wear, but I was drawn to it. I picked up one of the shirts that looked like it would fit me. Next, it was time to find pants. I spotted black pants a few shelves away and went over to examine them. All the pants on this shelf were black. Some were capris, some were shorts, one pile was comprised of black cargo pants, and another of jogger-like pants, where the bottom cuff was tight but the rest of the pants were loose. I held up a pair of joggers to my lower half.

"Do these look like they would fit me, Shikamaru-san?" I asked. He glanced over and studied the pants compared to my body.

"Close enough," he shrugged. I turned away and sighed. This guy was not fond of me. In an attempt to hurry myself along, I grabbed a standard pair of shinobi sandals that looked close to my size, and approached the store owner with Shikamaru and my findings. He fished out some money from his pocket and handed it to the elderly man behind the counter, who nodded, took the money and said, "Why isn't that nice, a young man buying his girlfriend some clothes. I remember when my wife and I were your age. Cherish it while it lasts!" The man chuckled and Shikamaru's face flushed. I smiled and took the purchased clothes.

"Thank you!" I smiled, silently laughing hysterically inside my head. We exited the store, and Shikamaru led me to his home.

* * *

 _Well guys, here's the fourth chapter. Things are starting to pick up, and I think I noticed a slight connection between our two main characters. I know I can't wait to see what happens! Haha, thank you to all who are enjoying the development of this story and continue to read! It is much appreciated, and feel free to give feedback through reviews! Thanks!_

 _-Mayori-chan_


	5. Chapter 5: Run

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world. Enjoy._

 **Chapter 5: Run**

I stared up at the dark ceiling in the spare room that Shikamaru's family had provided me. A sickening feeling was forming in my gut. It could have been the large amount of food I had eaten, but it was probably from the realization of my situation. I was away from home. I may not ever see my parents ever again. Thoughts of what my family and friends were doing without me crossed my mind. What kind of pain were they in? Did my body just disappear after the lightning strike? I hope no one was in pain because I was gone. So many thoughts floated throughout my head. Time passed slowly, and yet my worried never left. What did I do back home whenever I was troubled? Play chess or run.

I got up off of my futon onto the cold floor and slipped on my new sandals. The anxiety coursing throughout my body was too strong to appreciate them, otherwise I would have relished in the cloud-like cushion that they provided. Right now though, my mind could only replay all of the worries over and over again that had kept me up for the past 3 hours. Sliding open the tatami door, I crept out into the long corridor that linked the different rooms of the main building of the Nara clan compound. Every step was placed lightly and carefully, as to not wake anyone up. I didn't want to bother anyone and have them see me like this. The compound was dark, and it was difficult to see where the door was that would lead into the courtyard, so I lightly dragged my fingertips along the walls as I walked. I just hoped I could exit the building without falling into a full-blown anxiety attack. I had had them before, but it happened very rarely and only in extremely stressful times, such as the time I bombed my performance at State Track. Of course, this situation didn't even compare.

Tears blurred my vision as I finally found the door I needed. I closed it behind me quietly and stepped out into the moonlight. It was a cloudless night with a sky I didn't recognize, stars scattered in new constellations that I couldn't name. I lowered my gaze to the courtyard. A few of the Nara deer grazed in the open grass. Maybe since they lived with ninja they wouldn't mind a person running around at night. I walked down the steps and into the grass and broke into a smooth jog. It took a while, but after a few steps, my breathing slowed into rhythm with the movement of my feet. Step, step, step, inhale. Step, step, step, exhale. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Before I knew it, my mind was blank of worry, and filled only with running. The rest of the world was gone, only running.

As I ran, a soft galloping sound drew me out of my focus as a deer started running alongside me. They say animals can sense the emotions of humans, maybe this deer knew what I was feeling. It knew I shouldn't be alone. Maybe I was just being silly, but never the less, I slowed my pace to a slow walk and reached out to the deer. It nuzzled into my hand and I patted its back with my other hand. Suddenly, the deer's head whipped in the opposite direction at the sound of the courtyard door sliding open quickly. My eyes snapped up toward the door where an angry Shikamaru stood, kunai in hand.

"Ren, what the hell are you doing out here?" Though his voice was soft in volume, it was edgy in tone. His anger weakened the calm state of mind that I had worked so hard to get to, just as a pick-ax would weaken a slab of stone. My control was starting to crumble.

"Sorry, Shikamaru-san," I stammered, "I couldn't sleep!"

He sighed in response and rubbed his tired eyes, muttering words like, "troublesome," and "this is such a drag." Where I would usually think these statements humorous, it just made my walls start to crumble even further. For some reason however, both these emotions came out as one, and I started to smile and burst into tears all at once. When guys see a girl cry they go into hero mode. They rush to the girl and move frantically about trying to figure out how to get the girl to stop. Or, they resort to a long hug, hoping to squeeze all the tears out quickly. Shikamaru did neither of these, instead, he just stood there caught between two courses of action. He would reach his arms out, then second guess everything, then start to speak, but shut his mouth. At last he sighed and put his hands behind his head. Watching all of his motions come out all at once caused a concentrated ball of laughter come bubbling up through my body and exit out my mouth.

Half laughing, half crying I managed to say, "I'm sorry Shikamaru-san. I couldn't sleep and was on the verge of an anxiety attack so I came outside to calm down. I didn't want to bother anyone."

Shikamaru sighed again and shook his head, "I get it, just at least write me a note or something. I'm in charge of protecting you, as troublesome as it has been so far; but if you were to go missing or get taken, not only would the Hokage kill me, but the village would be compromised!"

I nodded my head quickly in understanding. "I understand, Shikamaru-san, it won't happen again, I promise! I just miss my family and friends… I don't know what happened to me or them." I wiped my face a few times, but the moisture was only replaced by new tears."

He searched my face for a second, and then walked over to the stairs in front of the door. For a second I thought he was going back inside, but he sat down and beckoned me over to sit next to him. I walked over, accompanied by the deer who was now my friend, and sat down.

"Ren, tragedies are going to happen throughout life," he began as I pet the deer, "but I know if I were in your position I would be reacting the same way."

I nodded and wiped another stray tear, "How do I move on?"

Shikamaru thought for a minute, "Well when I lost Asuma-sensei, I was a wreck for a while. But, I eventually moved on. I avenged his death and helped the Leaf Village and then set my focus on protecting the next generation."

A small smile spread across my face. I had known most of what he said, but it was different hearing it from him.

"I guess it was finding a new purpose," he continued, "that allowed me to move on. It's what Asuma-sensei would have wanted."

Even though his advice was short, I felt myself calming down. I let out a long exhale, "That helped a lot, thank you Shikamaru-san. I will just have to keep myself busy and find something new to focus on."

Shikamaru nodded and gave a smile that he had never directed at me before. I couldn't help but break out in a smile in response.

"Ha ha, I guess that new thing to focus on can be when you start to train me tomorrow!" I giggled. This brought an exasperated sigh from his lips, and he muttered something about it being troublesome. Another laugh escaped me, and I gave the deer one last pet before we climbed up the steps to go inside. Though Shikamaru may have convince himself that I was just another troublesome woman, I knew after tonight, that we were now on much better terms. Maybe even close to the beginning of a friendship.

* * *

 _Well, I know that was a short chapter, but I think this one is more about quality than quantity. Hope you all enjoyed it, I'm super excited to get into the training part! You all probably are too! Don't worry, it's coming soon! Again like always, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!_

 _-Mayori-chan_


	6. Chapter 6: Sweat

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world. Enjoy._

 **Chapter 6: Sweat**

Light streamed through the window in my room and onto my face. I blinked my eyes open. Though they were sore and groggy from crying last night, I was too excited about today to worry about that. Today was the day I became a ninja… sort of… as close to a ninja as a regular girl from a different world like me could get. I jumped up from bed and threw on my new outfit. Thank god everything fit perfectly. I shifted over to stand in front of a mirror. What to do with my hair though? I had showered when Shikamaru had first brought me here, and I hadn't realized how much of a bed head I would get from tossing and turning in worry during the night. My wavy, sand colored hair stuck in all different directions. I was not looking forward to trying to detangle it, a mess like this was basically a death sentence to wavy hair. I would have to try and attempt a braid.

After ripping out lots of hair and shedding a couple tears, I walked out into the corridor and heading to the kitchen, where Shikamaru's mother, Yoshino, was cooking breakfast. I knew she was a formidable woman, often acting strict toward her husband and son. But, for some reason, she seemed to like me. I don't know whether it was because there was another woman in her household whether she was convinced by my alias that I was a refugee, but she was rather gentle towards me. Still, I would not want to get on her bad side.

"Good morning, Ren," she greeted, "Here's some breakfast. You'll be needing it now that you start training today."

"Thank you, Yoshino-sama. I'm sure this breakfast will keep me going during training today!" I nodded in thinks, taking a seat at the kitchen table. In my excitement, I shoveled down my food quickly and took a long gulp of water.

"Be careful there, Ren, you'll choke!" Yoshino scolded. There was the sternness that I had expected. I dropped my hands to my side in an instant to appease her before the turned her full wrath on me. I could understand why Shikaku is so scared of her. Her stern look dissipated from her face and she nodded approvingly, "There, that's better."

To not make the same mistake again, I only took two more bites and chewed very slowly. After I was finished, I stood up, pushed my chair in, and took my plate up to the counter where she stood.

"Just leave that right here, Ren. I will take care of it," she instructed.

"Thank you, Yoshino-sama," I nodded and headed out tow find the training area.

Shikamaru was already waiting in the training area by the time I found it, practicing some simple shuriken practice. It made sense, he would go the easy route of practice on a day he normally wouldn't train. As I approached, he stopped and sighed, "Took you long enough to get here, you slept too long."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Gimme a break, if you had the option you would have slept just as long."

"This is going to be such a drag," he droned.

"Well maybe it wouldn't be such a drag if we started training already!" I countered, putting my hands on my hips. Shikamaru backed away.

"Fine, fine, we can start, geez," he muttered, rubbing the back of his head. I nodded in approval.

Shikamaru fished around in a bag that he had brought that had been laying some feet away on the ground.

"Okay, the first thing that we are going to start with is simple kunai and shuriken practice," he explained, "Many ninja start with this form of training first and then progress to taijutsu. Unlike them, however, we don't have as much time, so we will have to squeeze a lot of concepts in a small amount of time."

"I understand," I responded, "I will do my best."

"Alright then, here are some shuriken. I want you to practice with the short targets first, then progress up to the further and further targets," Shikamaru instructed, "You can move on to the next range of targets once you accurately hit the center of the current target ten times."

I scanned the target range as he spoke. There were five different levels, each that was about 5 meters further than the previous level. Ok, I can do this. I can do this. I picked up a single shuriken in my hand.

"How do I hold it?" I asked. I guess I had never really paid attention enough when watching the anime to determine the proper way to hold one. This lack of knowledge caused Shikamaru to sigh in exasperation.

"Alright here, let me show you," he grumbled, making his way over. He picked up one of the shuriken to demonstrate. "See, you can either hold it between your thumb and finger like this, or you can put it in between your fingers to better throw it back-handed."

"Ok, I think I got this now," I nodded. I decided to try both ways. Holding the shuriken in my hand, I focused on the center of the target. Ok, I can do this. And then, I threw it.

 _Thud!_

The shuriken hit an outer ring of the target and buried itself deep into the wood. I let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness I didn't miss it completely. I glanced at Shikamaru out of the corner of my eye. He was watching with a bored expression on his face. Hmph, that may be his normal expression, but I'll show him. All of my determination that I had focused into track in the past came pouring out into my current task. I picked up another shuriken and back-handed it into the target. Dang! Inches away from the center! I was so close. Shuriken after shuriken I threw. I was going to succeed.

 _Thud! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!_

Direct hit! Ten in a row too!

"Hell yeah!" I yelled in celebration, "Did ya see than Shikamaru-san!"

"Yeah, yeah, I saw it. Don't get too excited, you still have more levels to conquer," he responded monotonously. I rolled my eyes and grumbled as I moved onto the next level. Okay, I needed more force this time. I had to make the shuriken travel further but still have accuracy. I whipped a shuriken at the target to test out the distance.

 _Thud!_

Okay, right below the center. Just a little more force and a slightly higher point of release. I released another one.

 _Thud!_

Right in the middle. Now I had it. It took me twenty more throws before I perfected it and got to move on, but it was quick progress.

After what seemed like hours, I made my last throw on the last level. Sweat dripped into one of my eyes and I had to blink away the sting. Still, I was proud of myself.

"Good, you're finally done," Shikamaru said, "We'll work on kunai tomorrow. For now, we will begin taijutsu."

"Aren't you not very good at taijutsu though?" I asked. If I remembered correctly, Shikamaru almost never fought hand-to-hand combat.

"How do you- oh… that's how you know," he sighed, shaking his head. "Well, that may be true, but since you are new to it, this will work out fine."

Well, he had a point. Plus, since he was my teacher I may have a better chance at not being completely beat up by the end of today.

"Okay, I'm ready," I nodded. I positioned my forearms in front of my face for protection. Okay, all I had to do was search all of my options, look for openings, and predict his movements. His leg shot out into a kicking attack. I ducked. What would come next? I pushed my forearm upward, blocking the follow attack of the kick. What was next? What was next? I jumped upward to avoid a sweeping kick. If I was going to be able to lay an attack on him, I would have to think many moves ahead and have backup plans. Well, taijutsu is his weakness, so his moves will be rudimentary. Simple kicks, punches, and combos. I needed to find an opening. He went to flip and land a kick from above. Ha! An opening! As his foot came down, approaching faster and faster, I stepped in beneath him, grabbed his leg, and used his downward momentum against him by pulling it under him and forcing him to fall face first into the ground. He skid against the ground and rolled body over head until he landed back on his feet.

"Pfft, blah!" he coughed, dirt coming out of his mouth. His hair was covered in dust and his ponytail was lopsided. I fell on my butt in laughter. I giggled so hard that I cried as I rolled around uncontrollably.

"HA! HA! HA! Oh my goodness, that was hilarious!" I screamed in my high pitch giggle voice. Pointing at him, I yelled, "and I got a hit on you!"

Shikamaru glared at me, "You know if you were more advance it wouldn't have worked, I would have used a substitution jutsu."

"Yeah well I'm not and we were focusing solely on taijutsu, so I think that means I win!" I laughed.

"Yeah, yeah," he groaned, "So you're a natural at taijutsu, don't think the rest of your training will be this easy from here on out."

"Ugh, you're such a downer, Shikamaru-san," I rolled my eyes.

'Well you're troublesome," he retorted, dusting himself off. "That's all I have for you today, tomorrow we can work on kunai throwing and chakra control. Now I'm going to go shower."

I couldn't help but laugh at the embarrassment he must be feeling right now. To be bested by a woman, that's gotta hurt the sexist complex he has. "Ok, Shikamaru-san, but after you shower, I want to teach you something."

"Oh really?" He asked boredly.

"Yes. I challenge you to a game of chess!"

* * *

 _Well that was fun. I always thought ninja training would be fun. I wanted to make the scenario more realistic than the usual "girl gets transported to the Naruto world and is magically good at everything with no training." Hopefully it worked. Again, feel free to give feedback, I would love it. Thanks for the read guys!_

 _-Mayori-chan_


	7. Chapter 7: Check

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world. Enjoy._

 **Chapter 7: Check**

I sat on a gray cushion facing my chess opponent, Shikamaru. Cut-out pieces of paper representing the different pieces of the chess board rested in my hand, and I had drawn out a chess board on a larger piece of paper. It was trashy, I know, but it was the best I could do without a chess board. Laying the pieces on the board in two piles by color, I glanced up at Shikamaru. "Are you ready to learn?" I asked, smirking.

He sat there with his usual bored expression and shrugged, "Sure."

I rolled my eyes at his reaction and began my explanation of the game. "Okay, here are the different pieces that each player controls." I picked up the white pile to use for demonstration. "These are the pawns, they go on the front line in of your pieces," I explained, showing him the small, stubby looking chess pieces. "They can only move forward one space at a time, unless it's the first move or they are capturing an opponent. To capture the can move diagonally one space, otherwise, they just stand still if they run into another pawn."

He nodded, taking mental note. As I watched him, I could already see the wheels turning in his mind, starting to form strategy.

"Next we have the cooler pieces," I started, "These are the rooks. I know they look like castles, but they are called rooks. They can move forward, backward, and side to side for as far as they want, as long as they don't move another piece on their team."

Piece-by-piece I explained the roles, and by the time I was done, Shikamaru had probably already figured out how many turns he needed to win. If I was going to have a chance, I would have to play like my dad and focus on his three main steps for each move.

"Okay, well you can take the white pieces," I said, handing them the pile of makeshift pieces. "When you are the white kingdom, you get to move first."

"Nice, putting me in the offensive position to start with," Shikamaru scowled. I grinned in response, showing that I knew exactly what I had done. He sighed and began the game, moving the furthest pawn on the right side of his board forward two spaces. Okay, I needed to think what he would do next before I made my move. Would he continue with that pawn? Or, would he start to move his whole front line forward little-by-little? I decided to move the pawn one over from the opposite of his, a direct offensive movement. He started at the pawn I had moved, and after five minutes, moved a pawn on the other side of the board. He wanted to draw me in. How could I do the same to him? I didn't answer his movement, but instead moved a pawn a few spaces out from the center of my ranks. This move neither attacked, nor defended, but waited instead. His mouth set in a hard line at my move, but relaxed quickly, meaning he probably had formed a new plan.

Shikamaru drew one of his knights out from behind the line. Now he could pick off my pawns quicker and sneakier than a pawn vs. pawn approach. Damn, that means I would have to either step up my game by utilizing one of my higher pieces or anticipate his moves more effectively. I searched for every option that his knight would have for movement. Could he get to any of my pawns in their current positions and in their future positions? One pawn was a sitting duck, so I moved it forward and out of his reach. He smirked. Had I played into his hand? He moved his knight again, this time within striking range of my pawn. I would have to move it again, but that would put it one step closer to being taken by one of the pawns left in his front line. It was a trap. He could continue to force me forward, or attack on of the pawns I had neglected. Urgh! Why had I been so hasty? Cursing myself, I resolved to take longer and search harder in each turn.

This went on for hours, him setting traps, me trying to retaliate and come up with something clever, me failing, him succeeding and taking my pieces, and then me capturing some of his out of luck. At last, there was just me, my king, my queen, and a lonely bishop left in my collection. I sighed as I surveyed the pieces he still controlled. Six pieces to my three, the odds did not look good. Sure, my bishop and queen could do some damage, but the minute my queen was taken, I was screwed. Right now, my bishop and queen were centralized around my king. His pieces were spread out, save for the king. It was his turn. He moved his queen into position to take my bishop. Damn! If I took his queen by attacking along the same route, it left an opening to my king. I would have to sacrifice it. Instead, I moved my queen into a position to deter him, not realizing his rook was poised to attack along the line I had moved into. It was over.

"Checkmate… at least I think that's what I say, right?" Shikamaru said. I hung my head in defeat and answered an unenthusiastic, "Yes."

"Hey, you lasted awhile though," Shikamaru commended.

Sighing in response to his pity, I said, "Yeah, yeah, you don't have to exaggerate."

With that, Yoshino called to us from inside, "Shikamaru! Ren! It's time for dinner!"

"Be right there, mom!" Shikamaru spoke in a slightly louder voice than his regular monotone.

I turned toward Shikamaru, "We should probably clean this up."

He nodded in response and we started to pick up the paper chess pieces. It occurred to me that we got lucky during the past two hours. No wind had picked up our board.

With that though I jinxed the whole thing. A gust of wind blew by us and picked up the pieces, then sent then in the opposite direction of the compound as the wind ricocheted off the wall. I went to grasp one of the flimsy pieces before it flew away just as Shikamaru reached for another piece that was floating in the air.

 _Thunk!_

Our heads collided and both of us fell apart from one another onto the porch.

"Ouch! Watch where you're going!" I yelled as I clutched my throbbing head.

"Me? You're the troublesome one that got in my way!" Shikamaru retorted in the angriest voice he could muster. I glared at him just as Yoshino opened the door next to us.

"Will you too stop arguing like an old married and come inside to eat? The food that I worked so hard to prepare is sitting on the table getting cold!" Though her anger was mostly directed at Shikamaru, I shot up off the ground, collected as many pieces as I could, and rushed inside. Shikamaru walked calmly inside with the rest of the paper. Shikaku was waiting at the table calmly, he knew not to test his wife, and gave us a look that said we should have known better. I sat down and thought to myself, though this family was extremely dysfunctional, I'm glad I got stuck with them.

* * *

 _Hey all, I will try and focus more time into my chapters next week. I'm sorry, but I will not be updating this weekend due to visiting my babe outside of town. Thank you for reading lovelies, and don't forget to review!_

 _-Mayori-chan_


	8. Chapter 8: Chakra

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world. Enjoy._

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Chakra**

Chakra was weird. Ever since I had been dropped into the shinobi world, I had felt something different in my body. Almost like there was something always there but it was switched off back in my world. The moment I was transported into that forest a couple days ago, that something got switched on; I was just too preoccupied to pay it any mind, until today. It was Day 2 of training and boy, was I sore. My upper body ached from using different muscles than normal to throw all of those shuriken. Luckily, today was all about chakra control and I hopefully would not have to make any new part of my body sore.

I walked out to the training spot from before with Shikamaru. Either he decided to sleep longer or I woke up earlier, but for some reason, we were both ready at the same time. It was a cloudy day and looked as though if the clouds had feelings, than they were currently deciding whether or not to rain.

"Okay, sit on that stump over there," Shikamaru instructed. I did what I was told and sat on the wide stump cross-legged.

"Okay, what now?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I was curious as to how I was going to grasp ahold of my chakra flow. The more I searched my body for this chakra, the more I learned about it. To describe how it felt I would have to talk about it in terms of how the Hyuuga clan might talk about it. It was almost as though there were little points or concentrations of chakra spread throughout my body, and were interconnected by veins of chakra. My chakra flowed though these veins and went from one point to the next.

"Well, you need to get a good feel for sensing your chakra and then working on centralizing it to a certain place, like a body part or something," he droned. For someone as smart as Shikamaru, this must be torture to explain something that most ninja would perceive as a basic ninja technique.

I nodded in acknowledgement but still wasn't sure what I was doing. "That seems logical enough, but is there anything I should look for?"

Shikamaru thought for a second, "Hmm… well, I guess the best way to describe what to do is you have to will your chakra to go to a certain place. Almost think of that place as a magnet to the chakra and draw it into the spot you need it."

Okay, that didn't seem too bad. I closed my eyes and felt around for the chakra that was spread throughout my body. I felt it coursing through my body. It felt light, yet full of power.

"I think I found it," I said, my eyes closed in concentration.

"Alright, now focus that chakra into your right fist," Shikamaru guided. How do I do that? How do I move the chakra around? I knew I couldn't move it around with my body, I would have to control of it with my mind. I sent out tendrils of thought and touched the flow of chakra with them. Maybe if I slipped the tendrils into the chakra flow. I made contact to the flow with my mind and tested out if I could control it. I tried to move it slowly to the middle of my body. The chakra shifted its course and slowly started to draw itself to the center of my body. Bingo! It worked. Now I needed to see if I could move it faster. I focused on expelling the chakra to the limbs of my body. Chakra moved like running water to the rest of my body, which was a lot faster than the slow, molasses-like pace that I used for testing earlier. Okay, now time to attack the task at hand.

I grasped the chakra with my mind again and focused it toward my hand, almost as if my hand was a vacuum sucking the chakra in. My hand buzzed with the life-force. It felt like it was cloaked in power. I nodded that I had gotten it. "Okay, now punch this rock."

I peeped an eye open to see where he was indicating. Shikamaru gestured to a boulder nearby.

"What the hell?! You want me to punch that big thing?! Are you crazy?!" I yelled. No way was that safe. Was he trying to shatter every bone in my hand, not to mention my arm?

Shikamaru let out a sigh, "You are so troublesome. I promise you will be fine." He rolled his eyes as I glared at him. "I will use Shadow Possession to make you do it if you keep chickening out."

"That's not fair!" I exclaimed angrily.

"Life isn't fair," he responded in a bored tone. I sighed in response. It seemed that I had no other choice, so I settled back down and started the process over again. I moved the stream of chakra into my hand again and then cautiously approached the boulder. I can do this. I pictured the boulder breaking apart into thousands of pieces. I cocked my arm back for a punch and thrusted my fist forward into the giant rock. I felt the connect of the punch reverberate through my arm, and then the blast of rubble as pebbles sprayed past me. As the dust cleared, I turned around to face Shikamaru who was now trying to get little bits of stone out of his hair. Even though my hand stung a little, I was able to point and laugh at Shikamaru who looked like he was regretting sitting so near to the boulder.

"I did it!" I yelled happily. Shikamaru coughed from the dust and sputtered, "I noticed."

I grinned in response and giggled at his situation. He was still batting at his hair in frustration, trying to remove every last speck of rock. My heart fluttered nervously as though butterflies were trapped in its cardiovascular atriums. Though he was covered in dust, I couldn't help think about how attractive he was.

"What's next, Shikamaru-san?" My voice embodied the excitement that I couldn't contain. I loved learning, especially with skills as bad-ass as this!

Shikamaru coughed again, "Well now – _cough_ \- that you can grasp how to move chakra to the other parts of your body – _cough! Cough! –_ we are going to focus on maintaining that chakra flow."

Nodding, I questioned, "What can I use that for?"

"Well, for instance, you could walk up a tree," he explained. Oh, so this must be the beginning to learn to walk up cliffs or on water!

"That is so cool!" I was so ready for this. Bring on the tree!

We strolled over to a towering oak tree at the edge of the training field. The closer we got to it, the taller it seemed. And he expected me to scale that thing? He is crazy, I knew it.

"This is the tree where I learned how to climb," Shikamaru admitted. The fact that the Nara heir and genius learned on this tree motivated me to do well. The fact that I was starting to feel some weird feelings toward the guy may have also influenced my eagerness as well, but that's beside the point. Still, that tree was awfully big.

"Now, you will learn here too," Shikamaru continued.

"I will try my best." My determination grew and I stared up at the monstrous tree. Okay, focus the chakra to my feet. The lower part of my legs hummed with chakra as it traveled to the bottoms of my feet. Once centralized there, I went to go step onto the side of the tree.

 _Thunk!_

I fell flat on my back.

"Ren, you must maintain the chakra flow to your feet," he instructed. I got up, rubbing my back. I think I know what he meant. I focused the chakra back to the bottoms of my feet, this time continually sending chakra to the bottoms of my feet as the chakra circulated throughout my body. I picked up my right foot and placed it on the tree trunk. My foot placement was secure and I cautiously lifted my left leg up and stepped forward with it. Step- by-step I moved up the trunk. My forehead beaded with sweat from my intense concentration. I moved slowly, but safely up the tree. Taking my time, I knew I would be able to go faster as I practiced more.

"Nice job, Ren!" Shikamaru's loud voice broke my focus and I lost connection with my chakra. My feet separated from the bark of the tree and my body tipped backwards. I was falling! Wind rushed past me and my hair flew up past my face.

 _Slam!_

My body fell into a strong surface. It wasn't the ground much to my relief. Thankful to be alive, I blinked my eyes open in surprise. There was Shikamaru, looking down at me with a look of concern spread across his face. My body rested in his arms.

"T-thank you, Shikamaru-san," I stuttered, "I'm s-sorry for loosing focus."

He shook his head at my apology, "This was troublesome, but I'm glad you are safe."

A smile was able to make its way onto my face, though I was still shaken up. He set me down gently.

"Why don't we call it a day for today and go meet some friends instead," he suggested. I nodded in agreement, and we made our way to the village as a gentle rain began to fall from the sky.

* * *

 _Hey guys, I'm back! Hope you all had a great weekend! I know I did! Thanks for the read and feel free to review and give feedback!_

 _-Mayori-chan_


	9. Chapter 9: Friends

_Hey everyone, hope this chapter finds you well. I apologize in advance for how this will turn out. I have started a new full time job… working with multiple three year olds that have the vocabulary of a sailor. Needless to say I am exhausted and it feels like my soul has died, so if my writing is crap, there is at least some excuse and some hope that your will take pity on me. Thank you._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the places or characters in the Naruto world. Enjoy… if possible._

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Friends**

Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass, with Shikamaruuuuu. Dadada dadada duh, duh duh, dadada dadada duh… wait, what the hell was going through my brain? I was walking to dinner with Shikamaru in the makeshift restaurant district in the repairing Leaf Village. We were meeting with Ino and Choji, who were both contacted by Shikamaru earlier in the day; but for some reason, I couldn't concentrate on what I was going to say to Ino and Choji. The only thing on my mind was being caught by Shikamaru as I fell from the tree. Why couldn't I stop thinking about that? Or the way his body felt against me? Or the concerned look on his face when I was in trouble? Ugh, I need to get this out of my head.

Barbecue was on the menu tonight, by request from Choji. So now I had to worry about not getting sauce all over my face in front of Shikamaru _and_ try and make new friends? Stop thinking about him, Ren! You know he is supposed to end up with Temari! Still… a small part of me wanted things to be different.

We arrived to the restaurant a few minutes before Ino and Choji, leaving a small stretch of time for us to make awkward small talk. Our interactions were a little weird ever since the fall earlier in the day.

"So, uh, are you ready to meet some new people?" Shikamaru asked. I didn't know it was possible, but he was able to ask that in both a bored tone, and an awkward one.

I put on a polite smile, "Definitely. Ino and Choji sound great."

Shikamaru gave a small chuckle, "Well they certainly have their finer points. My recommendations, if you want to impress them, are to complement Ino and talk about boys and to eat a lot to impress Choji."

"I think I can do both of those," I nodded, slightly skeptical.

"Hey, are you two talking about us?" A young woman's voice sounded, accompanied by the sound of crunching chips. We turned out heads at the sounds to see a kunoichi with long blonde hair- that would make any girl at my old high school jealous- and a thick, but in-shape guy accompanying her. Ino and Choji. Shikamaru's face broke into an expression of happiness, which meant for him, the appearance of a smug smile.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go in and eat!" Choji said in greeting. I couldn't help but smile. There's no way I would need Shikamaru's advice, I could already tell I was going to be good friends with these two. All four of us sat at a booth table and waited for our server. We let Chjoi do the ordering. He was very accustomed to food after all and knew his way around good barbecue. Then it began, the conversations.

"So Ren, where are you from?" Ino began. Oh no, just the question I was dreading. Shoot! Where was I supposed to be from again? I must have took to long to think, because Shikamaru came to my rescue and answered for me.

"She is from the Village of Pears," he interjected. I nodded in agreement. Ino raised an eyebrow at the odd interaction.

"I don't believe I have heard of that village," she said, furrowing her brows. My stomach dropped.

"It's super small," I assured her, "and in any case, it no longer exists." I pretended to look heartbroken at the loss. Her face softened, and her regret at having said anything was apparent.

"I'm so sorry, Ren," she said sincerely. I gave her a small smile.

"It's ok, thanks Ino. Shikamaru has done a really good job at helping me to feel welcome here,' I explained.

Choji burst out laughing.

"Shikamaru doesn't seem like the heartwarming type!" he laughed, "but he is a great friend, I'll give him that!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at his best friend's teasing and Ino giggled. The conversation shifted, and Shikamaru started to talk one-on-one with Choji, leaving Ino and me to get to know each other. Just as Shikamaru had predicted, Ino started of the conversation right away with one of her main focuses. Boys.

"So Ren, have you noticed any cute boys since you moved here?" she asked. Her desire for juicy gossip, such as my new crushes, were obvious. I felt heat rise to my cheeks and I involuntarily peeked out of the corner of my eye to see if Shikamaru had taken interest in the question Ino had asked. All I observed was Choli and him intently talking about old times.

Giggling and scratching my head in nervousness I managed to get a sentence out. "Ha-ha, well not really- I mean, I uh, haven't really been out in the village much!"

Ino grinned. She had gotten exactly the answer she wanted and I had the feeling she had seen right through my response.

"Oh I get it," she responded, winking at me with her pale, blue eyes. Her head tilted in Shikamaru's direction as if to show she knew I had the beginning of a crush on the strategist ninja. I sighed in defeat. I knew I couldn't hide anything from her. Her dad was a mind-reader after all. She squealed in delight. Oh no, she better not make a scene. I would be mortified if Shikamaru caught on. The cluelessness of boys to romance was my only hope of preventing the incredibly awkward situation of Shikamaru find out. My nails dug into the wooden table in anxiousness and I bit my lip.

"It's ok," Ino mouthed, making sure she was as silent as could be. I sighed in relief at her silence and the fact that when I glanced over at the guys they were still having a good time.

Luckily, Ino decided to talk about ninja things instead of continuing her mortifying interrogation of me on boys.

"So, were there no ninja in your village?"

I shook my head. I had to give a reason for my recent training in case it came up. "No, we were mostly a farming village."

Ino shook her head. "That's too bad, I was hoping we could go on missions together," she explained, "Sakura-chan is busy all the time, it would be nice to have another kunoichi around."

"Well I am training!" I stated. "I have already worked with shuriken and chakra control!"

Her eyes widened in surprise. "That's great! You sure do learn quickly," she praised. "Maybe Lady Tsunade will promote you to genin if you get good enough!"

I nodded in determination. "I will definitely try my best! That would be such an honor."

"Wait," she started, "so who is training you?"

My wide eyes shifted to Shikamaru to signal to Ino that he was my trainer. She gave a wide grin.

"That it so cute!" she squealed, no longer able to keep quiet.

"What is?" both boys asked, turning toward us at the commotion. My face went red for the second time that night.

"Here is your table's food!" A kind, female waitress interrupted us before the question could be answered. Plates of food to be grilled in front of us were set down onto our table. Saved by the food. I mentally sighed, grateful to not have to answer. With that taken care of, it was finally time to eat. And with that, I guess I could attempt to impress Choji.

* * *

 _Much thanks for the read. I apologize for any delays that I have here on out. I thank you in advance for patience, as my patience is constantly tried throughout the day by toddlers. Feel free to review and much love to those who have followed and favorite!_

 _-Mayori-chan_


	10. Chapter 10: Meeting

_Hey guys, sorry it's been a few days. It's been an extremely busy weekend. Enjoy this chapter!_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world. Enjoy!_

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Meeting**

I sat in the oval shaped Hokage's office waiting for Tsunade to arrive. I knew she was extremely busy, with the upcoming war and all, so I had already planned on her being late. It was our first meeting since I had been released to Shikamaru's care and it was time to discuss what was going to happen soon across the shinobi nations. What would I tell her? That Kabuto and the resurrected Akatsuki were probably attacking Turtle Island by now? That soon she would meet with the other Kage and assemble the Allied Shinobi Force to its fullest extent? That Tobi was really Obito and Madara would be resurrected soon along with Kaguya? There was so much information that needed to be explained and in so little time.

The door creaked open and I watched Tsunade enter into the room. Her face showed signs of strain and fatigue that weren't there before. Her shoulders hung heavy with stress. Never the less, she covered the space between the door and her desk with a briskness that hinted at her urgent desire for knowledge. Tsunade sat in her chair and fixed me with a soul-searching gaze.

"I'm sorry that I am late, Ren, things have been rather difficult lately, which I am sure you have knowledge of," she said levelly. I nodded in understanding.

"What would you like to know Tsunade-sama?" I questioned. I would help her in any way possible. The warmth and mercy that this village has shown me thus far motivated me to spill every last detail of information. It was as if there was a small fire had started to burn deep in my gut.

Her face was grim. "I would like to know what will happen in the next few days," she started, "I know I can handle making war time decisions in the future, but these next few days are completely blank for me. I can predict nothing."

I inhaled and exhaled a long deep breath, collecting my thoughts. "Well, for starters, Kabuto and the Akatsuki have formed an alliance. They have also created a giant army of White Zetsus."

She closed her eyes at the news. "How many strong are they?"

My heart sunk deep into my stomach. The news was hard for me to relay, knowing how much trouble it would cause her spirit.

"There are 100,000 artificial beings, Kabuto and Tobi," I listed off, "but the worst out of their army are the resurrected ninja that they have summoned from beyond the grave."

Tsunade's face fell into her hands, "And what of the resurrected?"

"Kabuto has resurrected all of the past Kage, important ninja from the Leaf, the ninja swordsmen of the mist, and all of the deceased Akatsuki."

Her eyes widened between her fingers, "A-all of the Kage?" she stammered, "and which of the Leaf ninja?"

"They will have obtained Asuma-sensei, the Hyuuga leader's twin, and Dan," I said quietly. I knew this information about Dan would pain her the most. Tsunade buried her face deeper into her hands and there was a long, heavy silence. The desk space beneath her was attacked by the slow drip of tears. A quiet sniffle sounded from within her hands. Sympathy filled my chest. I couldn't imagine what it must be like to hear that your lover is going to be misused by the enemy.

"Tsunade-sama, I will leave you to mull this new information over. Summon me when you are ready to hear more," I said quietly, standing up from my chair. Her face appeared above her hands, wet and tinged with pink. She shook her head quickly.

"No," she whispered, "I am the Hokage, I need to know more for the sake of my village."

I closed my eyes at her word and sat back down quietly. "What else would you like to know?"

She shifted her gaze to the side and thought for a moment, choosing her question. "Will everything be ok?"

I sighed at her question. It was a childish question, one I would not have expected from her. It was a question that came from a place of raw despair that searched for the faintest glimmer of hope.

"Tsunade," I began, taking a wiser tone, "Nothing with hever be 'okay' but you and many ninja that hold the future to this village with survive. Other nations will survive as well, but there will be countless hardships and losses along the way. However, life will go on, so have hope Lady Hokage."

She stared at me, almost as though she were looking right through me. Her lips were parted, speechless. I reached over and touched one of her hands that now rested in front of her on the desk, clasped together as though to bring some comfort to her. Our eyes locked together, and a grim look began to spread across her face. Her moth set in a hard line of newfound determination to face whatever was coming. Her eyes closed and her head nodded in my direction. The old, fiery Tsunade was starting to come back and I smiled inwardly.

"Thank you, Ren," she said, "you may leave now."

I turned to walk out, when a thought struck me. I wanted to become a ninja and had almost forgot about mentioning my progress!

"Wait Lady Tsunade!" I exclaimed, "I wanted to know what it would take for me to advance to genin."

Her eyebrows raised in surprise, and a smirk began to move her lips. "Well Ren, how far have you come in this small amount of time?"

My heart beat wildly. "I learned shuriken and kunai throwing, and have started to master my chakra control enough to run up trees!" I reported happily. "I even created a clone yesterday!"

Her jaw dropped slightly in surprise. "Well show me!" she commanded.

I clasped my hands into the shadow clone hand sign. I directed my chakra into my hands and into my brain to transfer thought and sign into action just as Shikamaru had taught me. "Shadow clone jutsu!"

Ten poofs of smoke appeared throughout the room and Tsunade stared wildly around at my clones. She poked the one closest to her.

"My goodness, Ren, they are fully formed clones!"

I grinned with pride. I had trained for ten hours yesterday, just trying to get to this point in my training. Though I was extremely tired today from my hard work, I couldn't help but take pride in my accomplishments.

Her face relaxed into the role of Hokage. "Well Ren, if you can come to me in two days' time showing me ten more clones, your shuriken jutsu, your taijutsu capabilities, chakra control by walking on water, and a specialty jutsu, then I will promote you directly to genin," she bargained. A specialty jutsu? That was going to be difficult. Would she want a nature release type? Or just a more advanced ninjutsu than what I could already produce? I would have to discuss with Shikamaru, he would know.

My eyes fixed her with the most determined look I could muster. "I will be here, Lady Tsunade. If you bet on me, it's one you will win for once!" I promised. The blue eyes she possessed widened at my determination until her mouth broke out into a wide and somewhat haughty smirk.

"Well then, Ren, if you have the Will of Fire within you, I am sure you will succeed," her voice rang smoothly, "I will place that bet."

My smile grew wide at the agreement. I would show her! She will be sorry for doubting me!

"See you in two days, Hokage-sama." I grinned, and then stepped out the door.

* * *

 _So, I am super excited to see how Ren will do when it comes to making genin, I just wish she had some time to go through the whole process of the chuunin exams. Oh well, the war will begin soon and there is a lot that I have planned for her. So stay tuned! Thanks for the read, feel free to review even though you probably won't as usual._

 _-Mayori-chan_


	11. Chapter 11: Gates

_Hello everyone who reads this story. I know I have been updating irregularly and for that I apologize. Life has been rough since I have started this job and it is really starting to trigger a lot of my mental health issues. That being said, I will do my best to write my best. Also, as an FYI, this chapter is written during multiple lunch breaks at my job during a really rough week and after a night at the bar, so I may be channeling some angst as well as some buzzed thoughts._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world. Enjoy everyone._

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Gates**

I stood in deep concentration with my shadow clones, facing Shikamaru and Rock Lee, who had joined us for extra training. No matter how easy shinobi could make a jutsu look, it was definitely not easy to learn it. In fact, all my training combined up to this point was less strenuous than what I was learning right now. But enough about how hard it is, I need to focus.

My eyes were closed and I could feel the blood surging throughout my body as a result of my effort. After telling Shikamaru the news from Tsunade on potentially becoming an honorary genin, we had sorted through countless jutsu that would be realistic to learn and the most effective for me to use given my situation and expertise. Given my speed from Track and Field, I was one of the fastest women in the village, and Shikamaru wanted to exploit this for my advantage. So, we researched the fastest jutsu we could find. My somewhat natural talent at taijutsu opened the gateway for the Inner Gate Techniques and the Lotus Technique. Given Guy was with Naruto on Turtle Island, Lee was the only one who could fully teach me about the Inner Gates.

I was happy Lee was here. It was getting increasingly hard to be alone with Shikamaru and not let my feelings show, especially in the close context of training.

"Okay Ren, have you found the pathways of passion within to open the gates?" Lee asked energetically. On the other hand, his enthusiasm was probably going to annoy me very soon, maybe it wasn't such a blessing he was here.

"I don't even know what to look for!" My frustration escaped in my voice and Lee took a couple steps back out of caution. Immediately I regretted snapping at him and relaxed my body and facial expression in an attempt to calm down. Lee straightened back up and gathered his thoughts to explain.

"The gates are specific restraints along the chakra pathway," Lee stated, "The first two are located in the chakra pathway inside your head. Focus your motivation there!"

I nodded. All I had to do was search along my chakra pathway. I can do that. I cleared my mind and sent out a tendril of thought to sync with my chakra pathway. Once connected, I search around my brain until I met a dead end, only the dead end was more like a small prison cell containing chakra. So this was one of the gates to help limit chakra flow. I needed to somehow unlock the gate.

"Lee, how the hell am I supposed to unlock this?"

"Ren, calm down, you are being troublesome," Shikamaru interrupted. I almost stopped breathing for a second. I had forgotten he was there. Dammit, he probable thought I was a huge brat now.

I sighed with an uneasy feeling in my stomach. "Sorry, Lee"

"It's ok, Ren! You are just passionate and excited to learn!" I was given a forgiving thumbs up by Lee. A smile of appreciation spread across my face.

"I'm sorry, Lee. I guess I am just really impatient," I said apologetically. "Can you give me a hint on how to unlock the stored chakra?"

Lee smiled, "Well, for starters, you need to direct your chakra at the gate. You must focus hard and be very diligent!"

I laughed at his enthusiasm, which was starting to grow on me and set my mind back to focusing on learning the jutsu. I sent my chakra to the gate and bombarded it with energy. Focus. I can open this. Focus. Sweat beaded on my brow and everything around me was blocked out. All of my attention was on the gate. I could feel my skin get hot and my body temperature rising, almost like my body was trying to stop me from harming it with the side effects of the jutsu. Not today, body, I am going to succeed. Watch out because I am not playing any games! Maybe it was my personality or my ability to push through pain that was honed through track, but either way I could feel the bars on the gate weakening.

"First gate, Gate of Opening!" I screamed. An influx of power surged throughout my body. My muscles were no longer tight, but limber and powerful instead. Extra chakra surged through my chakra pathway and I opened my eyes to and excited Lee and a Shikamaru in disbelief. Screw the Lotus, I had to check this out for a second.

I pushed off the ground in the perfect drive phase for running. In mere seconds I was 400 meters away from Shikamaru and Lee. Usain Bolt got nothing on me! I bounded back, savoring the pure use of muscles and the fresh air that rushed past me as I set myself into motion. This was runner's high on steroids.

"Okay Ren, it's time to learn some moves!" Lee shouted. Another set of thumbs-up were flashed in my direction and I grinned as I appeared in a flash besides him.

"Lee, Ren, I have set up some practice dummies over there." Shikamaru gestured over to some plump and pathetic punching bags a couple hundred meters away.

"Race ya!" I challenged Lee and took off. Lee's laugh echoed behind me. Though I was fast, Lee was one of the fastest Naruto characters, and with my head start, I barely beat him there. Still, I had to brag.

"Ha ha!" I laughed, "I win!"

Lee stared at me set his face in determination. "I see, well that just means I will have to train extra hard! An extra thousand pushups after we train!"

Immediately I regretted bragging and Shikamaru smirked at my predicament.

"Okay Ren, in order to practice the Front Lotus, we must practice the different movements of the technique," Lee stated. "First, you must practice inverting yourself and kicking the dummy upward over and over again!"

"I will try!" I said. I appeared next to a dummy and kicked it upward with a forward swing of my leg. Okay, what must I do next? How do I invert myself like he said? The dummy started to fall downward toward me and I had to think fast. Donkey kick! It may have been the most ungraceful thing I could have done, but it worked with the amount of speed and power I was able to produce. The dummy soared higher and I leapt after it and angled my feet upward toward it. The punching bag then received a series of quick yet powerful kicks as to not slow my momentum.

"That's it, Ren!" Lee shouted.

"Nice work, Ren," Shikamaru complimented. His words fueled me even further. Now, I know that Lee's Primary Lotus involves using his wraps to capture the opponent and drive them into the ground, but I didn't have that option. I couldn't just go back to the ground, I needed to finish it somehow. I could resort to a downward kick like the Lion's Barrage, or mix both techniques. My hands latched onto the dummy as I kneed it in the middle. Then, flipping over, I used my downward momentum to throw it downward. Finishing the move, I dove down to make myself fall faster and then utilized a downward kick. In less than a second, rubble from the earth sprayed my face and exposed skin. Shikamaru and Lee had leapt away from the site to a safe distance. Through the dust, I fell further than I had expected and landed in fresh dirt next to the punching bag. Coughing the dust out of my mouth, I jumped upward to find level ground. When I did, I turned back to see a small crater laying in my wake.

"I did that?" I whispered in shock. In excitement, I turned to where Shikamaru was now standing. "I did it!"

He gave a small chuckle, "Well it was something different."

"Great job, Ren!" Lee nodded in approval. "I may have to try some of those moves!"

"Hold off on that, Lee," Shikamaru interrupted, "Ren still needs to spar."

I looked at him in newfound exhaustion. The power from the first gate was wearing off, due to the quicker effects of fatigue.

"Right now?" I asked. "But I'm so tired!"

"You will have to get used to battling while tired if you want to become a ninja," Shikamaru pointed out. I sighed in defeat. He was right.

"Okay, I will spar, but I am going to try and open the second gate to give me more energy."

"For that gate, Ren, it will be more difficult, but it is still located in your cerebral area," Lee explained. The first gate was hard enough, how was I supposed to open the second gate? Especially in this amount of time. It was just not possible.

"But Lee, didn't it take you a long time to be able to open so many gates?" I questioned. I wanted to find out just how doable this task would be.

Lee thought for a moment, "Well yes, but my chakra control at the time was low. The only thing that got me through was my passion for hard work!"

"Yeah, but Lee, it's even hard for Kakashi to open even one gate!" I protested.

Shikamaru tilted his head in thought. "Well Ren, Kakashi also probably just copied what he saw with his sharingan rather than train to open the gates," he pointed out.

Their points made me feel a little better, but I also was still not confident it would work. Still, I would try. I began the same process as before, melding my mind with my chakra to search for the gates along my chakra network. My mind worked its way past the first gate and along the vein of chakra until the next gate appeared. It was larger than the first one, and by the looks of it, it was going to take a lot more to open this one up. I still needed to try. All my energy was directed at the gate. My body was tense with effort and shook from fatigue setting in. Soon, my head was pounding from the stress. I couldn't handle it. I felt my head get heavy, so heavy that I couldn't keep it up. My sense of direction and balance disappeared and I approached the ground. Then black.

* * *

 _Hope the chapter was good. Now time for rest. Thanks for the read!_

 _-Mayori-chan_


	12. Chapter 12: Tests

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world. Enjoy._

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Tests**

The jumble of pots and pans echoed some distance away and I could hear the creak of wooden floors as someone shifted their weight nearby. What had happened? I slowly opened my eyes to my borrowed room inside the Nara complex. My body ached more than it ever had before in my life, even more than after the hardest track workouts that I endured back in the old world and the aftermath of the lightning strike. Every muscle felt strained. I let out a groan of pain and gingerly turned my head towards the spot where the creaking sound had originated. Shikamaru sat there in the corner of my room, his eyes fixed on me at my awakened state.

"Hi," I murmured shakily, giving a small smile.

He smirked at my greeting, "Hi, how are you feeling?"

"I feel like hell," I stated. It was the truth.

Shikamaru chuckled, "Well you _did_ have a tough bout of training today."

I responded with a joking roll of my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, just tell me what happened."

He nodded at my request and began to tell what had happened.

"Well, you passed out from overexertion, obviously," he shrugged, "Lee said before he went to go do an extra thousand pushups that you managed to open the gate but weren't able to continue due to your body not being able to handle the stress yet."

My eyes widened in. So I did manage it. Frustration boiled up inside me at my weakness in handling the effects of the gates.

"And then when you passed out, I caught you again," he mentioned, smiling, "so you owe me."

My heart fluttered and I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. Was it just my perception or was there more behind his smile? What do I say? What do I say? I don't want to sound stupid!

"Well, uh, how should I repay you?" I asked. I may have added a hint of flirtation in there, but not enough to be obvious in case he didn't catch on or didn't see me in that way.

He smirked and raised his eyebrows, "I'm sure you will think of something."

He caught on, he definitely caught on. My heart pounded harder and harder. Was it possible to have a heart attack from flirting? A smile that had crept its way onto my face widened even further and I looked away momentarily.

"Come on, you can think of something while we eat," he said, holding his hands out for me to take, "My mom has dinner ready."

He pulled me up onto my feet and helped me slowly make my way into the dining area. The stiffness in my muscles made it hard to move. As we entered the dining area, we were surprised to see the Hokage seated at the table, waiting.

"Ren, Shikamaru, have a seat," she nodded at us in greeting. We took our seats next to Shikamaru's parents. "As you know, the time has come to join up with the other shinobi nations and create the Allied Shinobi Force."

We all nodded in response.

"We shall head out tomorrow afternoon," Tsunade informed us. "The village mothers will stay behind. All shinobi higher than genin will set out. Ren, you will be coming too due to your uh," she hesitated, "due to your special capabilities."

Shikamaru's parents glanced at me in confusion but shook it off and turned back to the Hokage.

"The current scheduled time to leave is at 13:00 tomorrow," she stated, "Ren, if you wish, you may show me you are worthy of the genin title tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," I lowered my head gratefully, "I will be there."

"Good, now let's eat." I chuckled inwardly at this. I guess the Hokage likes free food as much as everyone else does. The adults started chatting as the food was passed around. I hadn't noticed how hungry I was until now. The hollowed organ gave a long low grumble and Shikamaru grinned in humor at me. Instead of passing the food, he dumped a heap onto my plate.

He grinned at his actions. "You need it," he chuckled, teasingly. I rolled my eyes at him and sighed, "I know."

During dinner, we talked from time to time between bites, once in a while making eye contact that caused heat to rise to my cheeks every time and for him to give a small smile. Every now and then, however, I noticed Tsunade glance over at us, studying out interaction yet saying nothing on the subject.

Eventually dinner ended and so did the day. The Hokage left and each of us departed into out rooms, preparing for the days ahead of us. I hoped I could be of use in the information center of the allied forces, but a more selfish hope was that my training efforts would advance me to genin status. Maybe then, if I survived the war, I could continue on as a contributing member of this village.

I went to sleep with those feelings of hope, eager to wake up and prove my worth.

* * *

The light of dawn broke through my window, drawing me out of my light sleep. I was ready to go. I leapt out of bed and eagerly chowed down on some breakfast before running out the door to go meet the Hokage.

"Ren!" a voice called after me, "Wait up!"

I slowed and Shikamaru caught up to run alongside me.

"I want to be there during the test," he explained. This brought a smile to my face. Now I would have to do well now that there was someone to impress! Not that I didn't want to impress the Hokage, it is just when competing, the presence of your crush stands out a lot more. We arrived in at the training arena that Tsunade had wanted to meet at. The arena was enclosed by trees and patches of grass dotted the dirt surface. I wondered what sort of tests Tsunade would put me through.

As in typical Tsunade fashion, she showed up ten minutes late. Faint lines beneath her eyes showed the lack of sleep she had the night before. I didn't blame her, these next few days were about to put a lot of strain on her.

"Okay Ren, are you ready to begin?" she asked in an official tone. I nodded in half excitement, half nervousness. Shikamaru gave a small smile in reassurance.

"First, you must pass some of the tests a normal academy student must pass," Tsunade stated," Your first task is to produce shadow clones. I want you to produce as many as possible."

I formed the correct hand sign. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Thirty clones surrounded us. This was the first time I had been able to produce so many. The last time I tried I could only get up to twenty-two. I grinned, pleased with myself. Tsunade smiled, showing she was pleased with my performance.

"Well done, Ren. Now, I would like you to perform shuriken jutsu." She gestured to an intricate set up of targets located in an area that branched off from the main section of the arena. All three of us strolled over to the target area. I searched the area for targets. 4 were placed high in the trees, another 4 were placed in a circle around the arena, spaced irregularly, one was on the ground near a couple of the trees, and the last one hung from all of trees so that it draped into the middle of the arena from up above. Tsunade handed me ten kunai and ten shuriken. Enough to hit each target twice during a shuriken test and a kunai test. I pocketed the kunai and walked into the courtyard to begin. I recalled watching a young Sasuke practicing shuriken in the anime, how he flipped and threw and knocked different shuriken into the right place. Now, I wasn't at that level yet but I knew I was able to hit every target perfectly.

I started by throwing five shuriken at the lower level targets and the target on the ground. Before they could hit their targets, I had already thrown the last five at the rest of the targets. A satisfying " _thunk"_ resounded as each shuriken hit the middle of each target. I went around and removed the shuriken, pocketing them while taking out the kunai. My arms moved in partnership with each other as I flung kunai toward their goal. I even managed to time a throw to deflect a kunai toward a different target. Each was spot on. It seems those hundreds and hundreds of throws Shikamaru made me do paid off.

"Nicely done," Tsunade nodded, "Shikamaru did a good job at training you quickly with those."

"Thank you, Lady Tsunade," I smiled. We walked back over to the main training field. My heart began to pound, it was almost time to show the rest of my jutsu that I have worked on.

Tsunade met my gaze, "Your final test is to spar. You must take this bell from Shikamaru." Between her index and thumb dangled a shiny, silver bell. It was the bell test without a team, a specific test on sparring. She placed the bell into Shikamaru's outstretched hand, who took it and tied it around a belt loop on his pants. I stared at the bell and then locked eyes on him. I may have had a crush on him, but there was no way I was letting that stand in the way of my goal. He smirked at me, challenging my gaze.

"Ready? Begin!" Tsunade yelled, putting her hand up and bringing it down in a swift motion, signaling us to start.

I was on the offensive and would need to outsmart his outsmarting if I was to have any chance at getting the bell. I would need a surprise. Yes, I would have to do it, I would have to open the second gate at the most opportune moment.

I formed my hands into the sign to create clones. I would have to isolate the real me to be able to open the first gate. To do this, I would need a distraction.

I began to run in a circle around Shikamaru along with my clones. If I kept moving, it would be harder for him to stop me with his Shadow Possession Jutsu. As we ran, my clones and I hurled kunai at Shikamaru, forcing him to dodge and briefly break eye contact with the real me. As he did, I hid myself underground. I focused my energy on the first gate. My clones kept me in contact with Shikamaru, who was now starting to dispose of them.

The gate was open! I sent my remaining clones to draw him over to the part of the ground that was above me.

"First Gate, Gate of Opening!" I yelled, exploding upward, aiming a punch at Shikamaru's chin. My fist connected, but as Shikamaru flew back, his image transformed into a wooden log in a poof of smoke. Damn! Now he was on the offensive and was nowhere in sight. If I had to guess though, he would be somewhere where shadows were readily available. He would be near the trees. As I headed toward the edge of the forest, I had one of my remaining clones fill in the hole that I had jumped out of to prevent what happened at the chunnin exams from happening to me.

The next step for me was to set a trap. I produced another clone and we diverged from one another. We circled the edge of the trees in opposite directions, looking for glimpses of Shikamaru or for any shadows moving abnormally. I hoped my clone would spot him, leaving me better able to set a trap. Before I could think any further, I felt my clone stop involuntarily. Bingo! The connection to the jutsu led me directly to where he was at. It was time to play my trump card.

I kept him distracted with my clone as I sat in a nearby tree and began to focus on the second gate. I would not pass out this time. This time, I took a more relaxed approach, careful to not over exert myself and waste precious energy trying to open it. The link between my mind and chakra traveled past the first gate and stopped as it came to the second gate. Unlike before, I was confident, determined, and in need of the power the second gate would grant me. I concentrated in silence and searched for ways to open the gate while I sent a constant stream of chakra toward it.

The release of energy was more than I anticipated.

"Second Gate: Gate of Healing!" I whispered excitedly to myself, careful not to draw attention to myself. With my new power, I made it to Shikamaru in a flash and kicked him up in the air before he could notice. Kick after kick we traveled higher and higher into the air. From this height, I could spot Tsunade watching out of my periphery vision. As we reached our peak height I smiled at Shikamaru and he smirked back, and then I struck with the downward swing of my leg, grabbing the bell simultaneously. Shikamaru sped towards the ground. As I traveled downward at a slower speed, I hoped he would be ok. When I reached the forest floor, Shikamaru and Tsunade were waiting for me, arms crossed and smiling in approval.

"Ren, as Hokage of the Leaf Village I hereby declare you to be a genin level shinobi of this village," she announced in an authoritative voice.

I beamed from ear to ear, "Thank you so much, Lady Tsunade!"

She nodded in acknowledgement, "Your further training will be in the hands of Guy and Lee due to your taijutsu affinity and due to your unusual circumstances as a genin."

My brows furrowed in slight confusion, "But Tsunade-sama, what about Shikamaru? He has been a great teacher so far!"

A small smile formed on her lips. "I think you both have too much between you already to continue as student and sensei."

At her words, I am sure my face turned red, and I glanced over at Shikamaru, who was pretending to look off in the distance. His face also had a slightly pink tinge to it.

"Just as I thought," she concluded. "Make sure to join up with our forces in a few hours to leave for the war."

Shikamaru and I both nodded, and then she disappeared.

* * *

 _Well, hope this was a good chapter and that you all enjoyed it. Please review and feel free to favorite and follow! Thanks for the read!_

 _-Mayori-chan_


	13. Chapter 13: Beginning

_Hello readers, sorry about the delay, there has been a short amount of writer's block. However, I am back! So hopefully you all will enjoy this next chapter!_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or places in the Naruto world. Enjoy._

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Beginning**

 _Step. Step. Step. Step._ I planted each footfall one after another as I walked with countless shinobi to meet up with the other shinobi nations. Shikamaru walked right by my side step by step. Everything was different now, especially after the Hokage voiced her observations on the two of us. I could hardly look at him while at the same time not wanting to look at anything else. The same feeling was shared with my ability to speak. I wanted to talk to him but couldn't, and at the same time, words were trying to escape but I didn't want to speak. All of these feelings swirled inside of me, joining the storm of butterflies that was raging in my stomach.

Finally, Shikamaru's voice joined into the web of sound created by the countless other voices that were resounding throughout the group in conversation.

"So, you are going to be stationed at the headquarters," he started, "that's a good place for you."

"Well, based on my knowledge, yes," I shrugged, agreeing. Shikamaru stared straight ahead.

"And it's safe," were the words that came out of his mouth. My heart fluttered. What do I do next?

"Ha! You _do_ care!" I laughed. I took the risk of teasing him. Maybe it would help shed some of the awkwardness between us and hopefully not put him off the subject. Out of the corner of my eye I saw his mouth turn up in a slight smile.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, but I could tell things ran a little deeper than the quick and casual reaction he was displaying.

"How do you feel about where you are stationed?" My question framed the facts that I already knew about Shikamaru's station in the war.

He shrugged, "It's an understandable position. I'm not worried about it. Tsunade told me the head of our company is Gaara himself, and we have some of the smartest shinobi in our platoon."

I nodded, "You will do great."

Our conversation faded into silence as we continued our long journey. Moments passed like days until suddenly my focus switched from walking to paying attention to my hand. A brush of skin had caused me to be startled out of my blank train of thought. Shikamaru's hand had touched mine. Or, had it been the other way around? Did I dare risk to brush my hand back across his? I stuck my hand slightly further out from my body while still letting it swing naturally as I walked. The soft skin on the back of my hand slid across his. No reaction. I let my hand resume its normal position and continued my walk ahead. I had not taken but a couple steps more before I felt skin rub against my hand. Was it a fluke? Maybe if I did it back one more time, I would be able to figure it out. I let my hand once more rock back and forth gently a little ways out from my side. Just as I was about to brush his hand, two of his fingers curled around mine. Heat rushed to my face and a tingly feeling spread out from my chest to the rest of my body. My hand was pulled in closer to him, until all of our fingers were interlocked.

Unexpectedly, his hand squeezed mine for a moment, as if to reassure us both about the impending war. It was more for his sake than mine, since I already knew most of what would happen. But, what his action did reassure me of, was that there was definitely something more than friendship between us.

* * *

Headquarters was located high up on a rocky, desert ridge. After walking for two days, the shelter that I was soon to reside in during the next few days of the war was a welcoming sight, even though I felt bad that I was unable to help in the fight as a newly initiated shinobi. However, I was going to use my knowledge to help out my comrades the best way I could.

Ninja of every shape in size from every village were starting to assemble down in the valley in front of the headquarters. Leagues of people crowded the area and started to separate apart into their assigned groups, instructed to them by the jonin shinobi of every village. People moved chaotically for about an hour until distinct regiments began to be visibly separated from the others. I was bustled away from Shilamaru into the information sector.

"Shikamaru! I will see you soon!" I yelled, hoping that he would hear over the thousands of voices that resonated throughout the desert valley. Before I could see if he heard, I was hurried away by a couple of Leaf ninja up to the headquarters. I guess even here it's not safe for me if anyone found out the kind of knowledge I held.

"Ah, Ren, finally you are here," Tsunade welcomed as I entered into the cool air of the building. Three other Kage turned in my direction. Suddenly, some of the most powerful shinobi were all staring into my soul, wondering why a young lady like me was present among their ranks. Sweat started to gather beneath my armpits and a clammy feeling overcame my hands. I was intimidated when I first me Tsunade, but now there were three other ninja like her standing in the room. Intimidation didn't even begin to describe the nervousness I felt.

"Lady Hokage, who is this girl?" Lord Raikage asked. His brows were furrowed in an angry looking confusion as he started at her for an answer.

"She, Lord Raikage, is our secret weapon," Tsunade delivered with a smirk. The Tsuchikage narrowed his eyes at me.

"A secret weapon, you say?" he questioned, "She looks too young and I can tell that she is only a beginner shinobi."

More sweat. Higher heart rate. He saw right through me. How was I ever supposed to show to these leaders that I could be trusted now? They already thought I was a joke.

 _Speak up._

I followed my instinct. "Yes, I am a beginner shinobi, but my honorable Lady Hokage did not bring me here for my fighting prowess. My brain is the secret weapon," I stated calmly, giving a small smirk to show confidence I really didn't feel.

"You mean to tell us that you are better able to deal with this situation of war than all of our veteran strategists?" The Mizukage eyed me with skepticism. I knew there wasn't aggression in her question. I liked her from her personality portrayed in the anime, and knew she was only asking for the sake of the alliance.

I nodded in respect. "I assure you, Lady Mizukage, I have exactly what we need to win this war."

Tsunade gave a pleased smile at my words and glanced around to her fellow Kage. "Leaders of the shinobi nations, Ren here knows every event that is to come during this war. She is from another world that watches our world from afar."

The Kage looked around at each other, unsure of what to make of this.

"Trust me on this, my honorable leaders," I began, kneeling down on one knee, "you may not understand my circumstances, but I assure you that you can trust my knowledge."

They eyed me for what seemed like an eternity, gazes only broken by the announcement of the regiments of the army and their captains.

So, it began.

* * *

 _I know, I know, bland chapter. Like I said, writer's block and lots of frustration with my life right now. Seems like I am obtaining too many health issues to count. Fear not though, I will work on this as often as I can. Like always, thanks for the read, hope you review, and blessings to all my favoriters and followers._

 _-Mayori-chan_


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